Maybe the next sprint star of the world wasn’t so difficult to find.
Andre De Grasse is a Canadian sprinter who ran his first race in baggy basketball shorts with borrowed spikes. He now holds an Olympic gold medal for the 200 meters.
De Grasse swept past two Americans, Kenny Bednarek (favorite) and Noah Lyles to win in 19.62 seconds. He also won one of the three Olympic titles Usain Bolt held for the previous three Olympics.
The 26-year old finishes a string of close calls and completes a medal collection that was just short of a gold. De Grasse also won bronze in the 100, four nights before.
Although he also won a Silver in the 200, his time in Brazil will be remembered best for the moment he dared to play with Bolt.
The semifinal race was close and De Grasse and his team were well ahead of the rest. They easily made it to the medal race. But De Grasse kept pushing. Bolt was forced to kick it back into high gear.
Bolt won the race, but he playedfully wag his finger at DeGrasse. Bolt denied that he was pleased with the moment, but it went viral. Bolt won the final by almost a quarter of a second over De Grasse, but the champion said that the extra energy did not help him in his futile attempt to reset his world record of 19.19.
